This is the book that Rory is reading on her bed when Lorelai comes in before her date with Peyton.
Letters of Ayn Rand is a collection of letters written by the novelist and philosopher Ayn Rand, edited by Michael Berliner with the approval of the Rand estate. It was first published in 1995, 13 years after Rand’s death, and the paperback version that Rory is reading was published in 1997. It received generally positive reviews from Rand scholars and fans, but was judged “tedious” by The Washington Post.
Although Rory said she only liked Ayn Rand because of her novel The Fountainhead, reading her letters seems to suggest a stronger interest in Rand and her ideas than she let on.
RORY: He’s got Monopoly from every country in the world …
LORELAI: Remember he owns Twister – there’s a great visual awaiting you.
Monopoly, previously discussed. There are numerous international editions, well over a hundred.
Twister, previously mentioned. A game of physical skill played on a large plastic mat which is spread on the floor. The mat has six rows of large coloured circles on it with a different colour in each row: red, yellow, green, and blue. A spinner tells players where they have to place their hand or foot. The game promotes itself as “the game that ties you up in knots”.
It was developed for Milton Bradley, and originally called Pretzel before Milton Bradley changed its name. Twister became a success when actress Eva Gabor played it with Johnny Carson on The Tonight Show in 1966, but was also controversial, as the company was accused of selling “sex in a box” – it was the first well-known game where human bodies are used as the playing pieces. Twister was highly popular in the second half of the twentieth century.
Just as to call someone a “Solomon” means they are wise, to call them an “Einstein” means they are a genius. Peyton says he may be wise, but he isn’t a genius.
[Peyton pours some of the wine into the second glass]
LORELAI: Aw. You’re the Solomon of wine.
Lorelai refers to King Solomon, a monarch in the Hebrew Bible and Old Testament renowned for his wisdom, to the point that calling someone “a Solomon” means that they are very wise.
The best known story about him is The Judgement of Solomon, in which two prostitutes who lived together gave birth the same day. Only one of the babies lived, and both women laid claim to being its mother. Solomon easily resolved the dispute by commanding the child to be cut in half and shared between the two. One woman promptly renounced her claim, proving that she would rather give the child up than see it killed. Solomon declared the woman who showed compassion to be the true mother, entitled to the whole child.
Lorelai means that Peyton is like Solomon because he resolves his playful “dispute” with Lorelai over the last glass of wine by pouring it into two glasses (cutting the wine in two).
[Painting is The Judgement of Solomon by Nicolas Poussin, 1649]
LANE: Thinking about the last movie I saw. Vin Diesel was in it. Thinking about Vin Diesel now. Thinking about where Vin Diesel got the name Vin Diesel. Thinking about Vin Diesel’s mysterious ethnicity.
Vin Diesel, professional name of Mark Sinclair (born 1967), actor and producer. One of the world’s highest-grossing actors, he is best known for his role in the Fast & Furious film franchise, the first one being released in 2001. His professional name is taken from his mother’s maiden name, Vincent, and the fact that he is highly energetic.
His most recent film at this point was XXX, which came out in August 2002. Vin Diesel plays Xander Cage, a thrill-seeking extreme sports enthusiast, stuntman and rebellious athlete, turned reluctant spy for the National Security Agency. Cage is sent on a dangerous mission to infiltrate a group of potential Russian terrorists in Central Europe. It was a commercial success and received mixed reviews. The film’s soundtrack made #9 on the album charts, and #1 on the soundtrack charts, which might have been a reason Lane wanted to see it. She presumably watched it during her summer vacation.
In a 2001 interview, Vin Diesel described himself as being of “ambiguous ethnicity” – Lane seems to be alluding to this statement. He was raised by his white mother and adoptive African-American father, but his biological father’s origins are a mystery, although reported to be part African-American. Vin Diesel has never met him, and says all he knows from his mother is that he “has connections with many cultures”. He added, “Italian, and a whole lot of other stuff”. (Wouldn’t a DNA test provide some answers?).
Diesel considers himself to be a person of colour, and made a film about his ambiguous ethnicity in 1995 called Multi-Facial. On film, he has played characters from a variety of ethnic backgrounds (Italian, Cuban, Jewish etc), and their ethnic background is never essential to the plot.
LORELAI: Oh my God … You like Jimmy Buffett? He’s so mellow.
LUKE: I’ve just been to a few shows, that’s all.
LORELAI: A few shows? Oh my God, you’re a Buffett Head.
James “Jimmy” Buffett (1946), singer-songwriter, musician, author, actor, and businessman. He began his musical career as a country singer in Nashville in the late 1960s, bringing out his first album, Down to Earth, in 1970.
After busking for tourists in New Orleans, Louisiana, he went on a busking expedition to Key West, Florida, in 1971, he moved there permanently, and began establishing the easy-going beach-bum persona for which he is known. His style of music is called “tropical rock”.
During the 1980s, Buffett made far more money from his extensive touring than from albums, and became known as a popular concert draw. He is one of the world’s richest musicians, with a net worth of over $900 million. Jimmy Buffett and his Coral Reefer Band gave concerts at the Meadows Music Theater in Hartford almost every year in the late 1990s, giving Luke ample opportunities to see him live.
Jimmy Buffett fans are actually called “Parrot Heads”, not “Buffett Heads” – it’s after the parrot hats all his fans seem to wear. Lorelai appears to recall that the the word head is in there, but not the details. She may have misheard or misremembered the term.
At this point, the viewer, like Luke, thinks that Lorelai says, “Oh my God” because of the Jimmy Buffett shirt. In fact, we later learn she says it because she’s seen Jess’ girlfriend Shane in the closet, and quickly covers for it by immediately gabbling about Jimmy Buffett as a distraction. She certainly gives Jess some hard looks, though, as he continues to confirm, or appear to confirm, all her worst fears about him.
This book is on Luke’s book shelf. Forty Days is a 1992 non-fiction book by Bob Simon, an award-winning veteran journalist for CBS News. The book describes the forty days he spent being imprisoned and tortured by the Iraqis after being captured, along with four of his crew, during the Persian Gulf War in 1991.
It’s not clear whether Luke or Jess is reading the book – but like Lorelai and Rory, there is a good chance that they share books anyway. If it’s Luke’s book, it shows that, like Jess, he has an interest in journalism. (It feels as if everyone is interested in journalism on Gilmore Girls!).
LANE: Pink? Or is that too Pink the singer and Kelly Osbourne and Gwen Stefani . . . man, there’s a lot of cheese associated with the color pink. Okay, pink’s out.
Pink, stylised as P!nk, the professional name of Alecia Moore (born 1979), singer, songwriter, actor, and dancer [pictured]. Originally a member of the girl group Choice, she signed with record label LaFace in 1995. Her 2000 debut album Can’t Take Me Home went double platinum, and included the Top Ten hits “There You Go”, and “Most Girls”. Her 2001 album Mizzundaztood sold 13 million copies and yielded the international hits, “Get the Party Started”, “Don’t Let Me Get Me”, and “Just Like a Pill”.
Kelly Osbourne (born 1984), English singer, actress, fashion designer, model, and television personality, the daughter of Ozzy Osbourne, lead singer for heavy metal band Black Sabbath, and his wife Sharon Osbourne. Kelly, and the rest of her family, had recently come to prominence with their award-winning reality TV show The Osbournes, which first aired on MTV in March 2002, and lasted until 2005. The show covered the family’s domestic life in Beverley Hills.
Gwen Stefani (born 1969), singer, songwriter, rapper, fashion designer, and actress. She is a co-founder, lead vocalist, and the primary songwriter of the band No Doubt, previously discussed.
At various times, each of these celebrities have sported pink hair.
LANE: Quaker College was a delightful surprise, with its special appeal to Richard Nixon, who’s dead but still deeply involved in campus recruiting.
Richard Nixon, former US president, previously and frequently mentioned. He was born into a evangelical Quaker family in California in 1913, and brought up in Quaker ways of the time, such as abstaining from dancing, alcohol, and swearing. He largely left his religion behind in his pursuit of political power, and doesn’t seem to have attended Quaker meetings or events in adulthood.
Nixon was offered a scholarship to Harvard, but chose to remain close to home instead and attended Whittier College in Whittier, California from 1930 to 1934, graduating with a BA in History. Although named after the Quaker poet John Greenleaf Whittier, the college hasn’t been officially affiliated with the Society of Friends since the 1940s. A liberal arts college, Latino students make up half the population, and 75% of the students are people of colour. If Richard Nixon is recruiting students from beyond the grave, his policy is perhaps slightly unexpected.
The Annotated Gilmore Girls 